Hancock’s Grammy: another odd choice

NEW YORK — To the list of Jethro “Say What?” Tull and Steely “Freaking” Dan, we may now add Herbie “Huh?” Hancock.

With his surprise win for best album Sunday night, Hancock joined a rich tradition of infamous Grammy winners that immediately caused audience members to contort their faces in curiosity and disbelief.

The 67-year-old jazz pianist wasn’t only the surprise winner, he was a surprise nominee.

Hancock’s Joni Mitchell tribute album, “River: The Joni Letters,” was neither a financial success (it has sold a paltry 56,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan) nor a particular critical darling.

Amy Winehouse, on the other hand, was one of the most common selections among critics’ top-10 lists. Though she won for best record (“Rehab”), best song (“Rehab,” again) and best new artist, Winehouse failed to sweep.

If Grammy voters had wanted to take a more populist approach, Kanye West was the favorite. The Chicago rapper’s “Graduation” was one of the year’s biggest sellers. He still collected four awards, but again left the Grammys disappointed in losing best album.

Instead, Hancock came out of left field to win the night’s big award. Even he was shocked, rating his surprise as “immeasurable.”

Hancock’s upset immediately recalled past Grammy wins that have roundly been mocked. In 2001, Steely Dan (then long past its prime) won best album over Eminem, Radiohead and Beck.

The most oft-cited example of the Grammys being out-of-touch is Jethro Tull (a classic rock band that made their biggest flute-accompanied impression in the ’70s) winning for best hard rock or metal performance in 1989, while Metallica waited in the wings.

That still doesn’t include the dozens if not hundreds of decisions by Grammy voters that in hindsight look downright foolish. In 1985, for instance, Lionel Richie’s “Can’t Slow Down” beat two albums so legendary that their authors need no mention: “Purple Rain” and “Born in the USA.”

And then there’s Milli Vanilli winning best new artist in 1990, which the Grammys and everyone else would prefer to simply forget. (The award was withdrawn four days after the ceremony.)

Hancock, undeniably, is no Milli Vanilli. His skills are undiminished with age and he remains one of few living jazz greats. But he’s also arguably long past his heyday, which spanned his early work in Miles Davis’ band in the ‘60s and his revolutionary synthesizer-heavy fusion work in the ’70s.